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Saturday, March 28, 2009

Home Improvement

Pretty sure I've blogged very little concerning our home. We purchased a foreclosure about 18 months ago. It's in a nice neighborhood, one that we would not have been able to afford, necessarily, without a deal. We decided to take a gamble and see if we could turn this pile of rubble into a gem.

Previous to this home, we had never really done a lot of home improvement. Our parents weren't real handy and there was never anyone to teach either one of us the tricks of the trade.

The only thing we had really done before this house was a deck. Not just a deck, this thing was a monstrous masterpiece. I say this only because most of the work was done by our friend JC. He helped us build this 27X14 foot outdoor paradise (on our previous house.) After this feat of accomplishment, we felt enough self confidence that maybe, just maybe we could do a little more, try a little more.

We didn't know what we were taking on when we purchased this house. We knew it would take work but after almost 18 months were still in the middle of some big projects. So far, we've refinished the hard wood floors, tiled the kitchen floors, had the whole interior of the house professionally painted, had carpet installed, removed 4 skylights, re-drywalled 2 large walls in the lower level, re-graded the entire backyard and had new countertops/cabinets installed in the kitchen.

If that isn't enough, we are presently finishing the renovation of the lower level bathroom and we're ready to tile the laundry room, and re-do 2 more bathrooms.No end in sight. Recently I've been running into some old friends. Many of them have chosen to live in new houses so they don't have these constant renovations. They go bug-eyed when I delve into our escapades since they don't have to think of such travesties. There's a trade-off though as many of them comment when they visit, "Wow, look at these huge trees" or "look at these old wood floors". As much as the renovations get monatonous after awhile, I choose to be patient and thankful. Soon this house will be finished and we'll have a home. Hopefully we'll even have a little equity. Would that be too much to ask in a housing market/economy like this one?

I might post some pics one of these days soon. It's pretty amazing how a property can atrophy and then be brought back to life. There's something inspiring about that.

4our2cents

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About Me

I'm a mom of 3. 3 kids in 25 months and little sanity to show for it. Therefore I blog. I've found it's the best way to keep my mouth out of trouble...anonymous venting. What was life before blogs?
The 3 banschees about which I blog are as follows:
BWT - Boy Wondertwin who is currently 6
GWT-his twin sister, also 6
Little Dude- Presently 4 years old and quite good at it, might I add.